“Playing the what ifs is a fool’s game. You have to roll with what life brings you, that’s what I’ve learned.”
He pulled his little slave’s body closer against his. Veck, he was an idiot, having his pity party over losing his father when she’d been through far worse in her lifetime.
“Your resilience humbles me, little female. I don’t know why it also makes me want to break you.”
She silenced him with her fingertips over his lips. “Don’t.” She pressed a soft kiss to his neck. “Don’t question what you need to do with me and I won’t question why I enjoy it. All right?”
Warmth rushed into his chest in swirls of appreciation for his wise little slave. “All right.” He kissed the top of her head. “Get some sleep, little human. I know you need much more than I.”
She nuzzled him and her body softened even more, molding to his frame, her breath slipping in and out evenly.
He closed his eyes, wanting to savor only the feeling of Leti’s body against his. Forget about his mother, the war, or the precarious position of his species.
7
A touch on Leti’s arm brought her attention back to the room. “Can you give me a hand?” Bayla was speaking to her. The females—Zandian and human alike—were playing with the children gathered in the Great Hall.
She gave herself a shake. “I’m sorry—with what?”
“In the lab. I want to check on the baby.”
Great, another place to remind her of Paal’s scorn. But she needed something to do, so she agreed. “Sure, of course.”
She and Bayla headed to the lab where Bayla turned on pieces of medical equipment. One whirred to life next to the table, projecting a blank hologram.
Bayla hopped up on the table and handed a small hand-held instrument to Leti. “Just bring it slowly over my belly,” she instructed.
Leti complied, and the blank hologram turned into a projection, flickered and transformed. “Oh!” Her breath caught as the image of the tiny fetus appeared floating beside them.
Bayla giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “I don’t really need to check so often, but I like to see her. She’s so perfect, isn’t she? Look at those little toes!”
Inexplicably, tears welled in Leti’s eyes. She’d never wanted to have children, not that it mattered what she wanted. Reproductive capabilities were suppressed in all sex slaves. A child would be another emotional attachment—something to cause her great pain when it was taken from her.
But seeing Bayla’s tiny fetus stirred some deep longing in her. Her chest tightened and twisted with pain at what she’d never have. “She’s perfect,” she managed to choke out.
“Do you want to breed?”
She choked on an inhale. Damn Bayla’s directness. Pain—not just at not having babies, but at not having a mate who’d want to breed her— bounced around her chest before she managed to expel it all.
“No,” she said firmly. “Never.”
Bayla must’ve seen through her, because she shrugged lightly, slipping off the table. “You should have Daneth check to see if it’s still possible. You know—just so you know.”
Was it still possible?
Her uncertainty must’ve shown on her face because Bayla waved her up to the table. “Get up there. We can at least see if you still have a womb.”
Curiosity won out over her desire to run away from the lab and never look back. She pushed herself up on the table, her palms damp with cold sweat.
Bayla took the small device and pressed it over Leti’s abdomen. “Oh yes, you have a uterus, see?” She pointed at the hologram. “And what’s that?” She dragged one section of the hologram to enlarge it. “Look,” she pointed at a tiny round spot.
“What?” She tensed. Was it some implant they’d put inside her? Or some illness?
“I might be wrong…” Bayla frowned.
“What, Bayla?”
“That looks like an implanted egg.”